"Well, I have to go
to the library. I'll see you later, okay?" Sakurai smirked and
quickly left.

"Mizuki, what do you
mean by 'you guys'?" Kosuke repeated his question after Sakurai
was gone.

"You didn't hear
me? I said you, Narucho—"

"No, I mean… you're
giving them chocolate too?"

"Yes… Kosuke,
what's with you?" Mizuki chuckled.

"Well, I can
understand that you gave one to Shuu," Kosuke frowned a bit, "But…
Naruse and Sawamura too?'

"What's wrong with
that? We're best friends aren't we?"

"You mean it's
only… 'friendship chocolate'?"

"Yes, Kosuke. It's
only 'friendship chocolate'." Mizuki emphasized the word
'friendship'. "Okay, I'll see you at seven. Jya!" Mizuki
waved and left leaving Kosuke with a single tear drop on the corner
of his eye.

"Sob… sob…
'friendship chocolate'…"

Mizuki arrived at the
Three Men's Hoop about seven past five. Naruse and Kosuke were
already there with other people that use to be at the hoop too.

"Hi, Mizuki!"
Naruse waved to her. Kosuke glanced at her direction.

"I wonder why you
want us to meet here. Well, it's school night and we usually don't
meet at school night."

"I guess you don't
remember too, huh Narucho?" Mizuki smiled. "It's Valentine's
Day and I wanna give these to you guys!" Mizuki handed both Naruse
and Kosuke her home-made chocolate.

"Thank you," Kosuke
took his share. Even though he's still disappointed it's just a
friendship chocolate, but it's from Mizuki. He just can't say no.

"Hey, where's our
share?" suddenly Megane appeared behind them.

"Sorry…" Mizuki
grinned, "I got limited budget."

"Aw, that is so
disappointing," Ultraman was there too. "But Kosuke must be
happy, right?" he winked to Kosuke.

"Sure! It's a love
expression from Mizuki to me—"

"Friendship, baka!"
Mizuki cut him.

Megane and Ultraman
snickered and that cost them both punches on their heads from Kosuke.

"Hey, where's
Sawamura?" Mizuki looked around.

"Uh, he can't make
it. You know, he's working right now," Naruse replied.

"What? But yesterday
he said to me that he's off for the whole day!"

"Well, I guess it was
just some lip-service thinking that he's a gold digger," Kosuke
lit his cigarette. "Maybe right now he's at some hoop playing for
money."

"Let's just go to
his apartment. We meet him there," Naruse offered.

"I'm not going to
go to his place just to give him a chocolate. What would other say?
That I'm falling in love with him?" Mizuki pouted. "Besides
that, I'm rather in a hurry. Tonight I'm going to have a dinner
with my mother at a restaurant. It's a Valentine's Day for both
of us too."

"Well, you can give
it to me then," Kosuke grinned.

"Or you can give it
to him tomorrow." Kosuke frowned to hear Naruse's suggestion.

"I guess you're
right, Narucho. I'll just give it to him at 'The Bar' tomorrow
after school." Mizuki sighed staring the chocolate in her hand.
"Well, I'll see you guys later okay? Bye!"

"I think Mizuki is
good at cooking. This chocolate must be delicious," Naruse said
after Mizuki left.

"Yeah… this
friendship chocolate," Kosuke sighed.

15th February.

After her basketball
club practice ended that day, Mizuki quickly left her school for
Shibuya downtown. She figured Johnan basketball team must've ended
their practice period too.

Standing before The
Bar's front door, she pushed the door slowly and took a peek
inside. She's wearing her school uniform right now and she doesn't
wanna be seen in a bar with her uniform. She's planning to see if
Sawamura was there. And if he was, she'd straightly give the
chocolate and leave the place.

She spotted the guy
she's looking for. After observing inside of the bar, she went in
casually.

"Hey, Sawamura."

"Ah? Well-well-well…
What's a school girl doing in a bar like this?" Sawamura gave his
usual mocking grin to see Mizuki in her school uniform.

"Urusai. Here, you
forgot something," Mizuki put the chocolate on the bar table. She
planned to leave the bar quickly but she can't help it to scold
Sawamura. "How could you didn't come to the hoop yesterday? I was
planning to give that to the three of you!"

"Money called,"
Sawamura replied easily. He took the chocolate on the table and
observed it, "The wrapping is too simple. Don't you have any
creativity inside of you a bit?"

"You ungrateful
being… I wrapped every chocolate I made with care, you know! Well,
maybe this isn't as beautiful as those you got from your fans,
huh?" Mizuki tried to be cynical.

"Well, perhaps not as
good as the one you gave to Sakurai…"

"Huh? Urusai!" She
slightly blushed.

Sawamura snickered.
"Well, thanks anyway. I gratefully partake," he kept the sweets
in the drawer. Suddenly he turned to Mizuki, "Did you make it
heart-shaped?"

"No way! Why should I
make a heart-shaped chocolate for you?"

"No, I mean the one
you gave to Sakurai," Sawamura grinned again.

"Huh? Urusai, aho!"
Mizuki blushed some more. "I should be going now, and better don't
break any glass unless you wanna get fired." She turned and went
straight to the exit.

Sawamura snorted, "Who
are you? My boss?"

12th March.

"White Day gift? Why
should I bother to that kind of thing?" Kosuke munched his fries.
He, Naruse and Ultraman were relaxing at McDonald's.

"Kosuke, if a girl
gave you chocolate on Valentine's Day, you have to give her
something on White Day in return. It shows that you care for the
girl," Naruse explained.

"Maybe this is the
first time Kosuke ever received something on Valentine's Day. So he
knows nothing about White Day," Ultraman grinned.

"Nani?" Kosuke gave
his death stare to Ultraman. "I'm not that lousy, okay?" he
growled made Ultraman shrunk to his seat.

"So, why don't we
get something special for Mizuki tomorrow? The day after tomorrow is
White Day," Naruse said. "Maybe you, me and Sawamura could buy
her something cute that girls would like. Maybe a teddy bear or
something?' he added.

"Uh… Well… okay,"
Kosuke replied unsure.

"Nani? A White Day
gift?" Sawamura knitted his brows when Naruse and Kosuke went to
his apartment that night. "Who's the one you're gonna give a
White Day gift?"

"Aah? That's a
waste of money. Just say thank you and that would be enough.
Moreover, we never asked her to give us any chocolate."

"Hey-hey!" Kosuke
sounded protesting, "She gave that because we're best friends.
Won't cost you that much just to give her some little gift… you
cheap." He added muttering.

"I got some crucial
expenses this month," Sawamura sipped his coffee. "Could you guys
cover me until my next payday?"

"Uh, well maybe I can
do that… my uncle gave me some extra money when he visited me last
week," Naruse scratched his chin tried to calculate his own budget.

"Negative. This is
all I got right now." Kosuke took out some cash from his pocket.
"I'm afraid I have to ask your help to cover my part too, Naruse.
In that case, you do the shopping okay?" Kosuke smiled and placed
his hand on Naruse's shoulder

"But… I have no
idea what I should—"

"That's a good
idea. Okay, so we'll leave it all to you," Sawamura cut him.

"But…"

"Make sure it's
something cute, alright?" Kosuke put a cheeky grin.

"But…"

13th March.

Since last night where
Sawamura and Kosuke assigned him to be the one to choose the gift for
Mizuki, Naruse couldn't think of any good idea. Firstly he thought
a teddy bear would be the best choice. But he's too shy to shop a
cuddly teddy because he's a he.

Then he thought jewelry
like necklace or bracelet would be nice. But he cannot decide what
model that Mizuki would like.

Then a sweater is his
next choice. But he couldn't buy Mizuki any clothes before he knew
her size.

His choices always
failed to reasons like color, model, shape and those things that
usually become big matters to girls.

"Maybe I should ask
Mizuki for help to choose the present and lie that it's a gift for
other girl," Naruse sighed in desperation.

Kanda's loud voice
made the rest of their teammates stared. "Really? Naruse is looking
for the right White Day present? He has a girlfriend? No way!" And
so on, and so on. Disbelieved and shocked voices here and there.

"Since when there's
a girl who's interested in you?" Kiriko, the nasty manager
approached Naruse with her scary grin. "I'd like to hear the
story."

"N-No, I mean…"
Naruse was sweating heavily.

"Aho…" Sawamura
sighed.

"Cut the noise! Get
back to the court. Now!" Umakure roared to his team. Everyone
quickly followed their captain's order.

"Oh, so the White Day
gift is for Mizuki…" Gun said while all of them were at the
locker room after the practice ended. "Well it shouldn't be hard,
right? Girls love cute stuffs, just give her a pink stuffed bunny."

"I'm not going to
buy that by myself!" Naruse frowned.

"And it's gonna be
useless if you ask Kiriko for help. She might wreck the whole plan,"
Imagawa smirked.

"And asking Kobayashi
an advice is no less useless," Isozaki grinned to Kobayashi on the
corner of the room. Kobayashi just glanced carelessly.

"Sakurai," Gun
turned to Sakurai," You usually received Valentine's chocolate.
What do you usually give to girls on White Day?"

"Huh? Well, actually
I never gave one," he grinned, "I just said thank you when they
gave the chocolate to me."

"Now that's
rational," Sawamura added.

"Sawamura, you're
not helping at all. You're in this too, remember?" Naruse pouted.

"Hey, Kosuke and I
already leave that business for you to handle."

"It's a present
from the three of you. I think you should give some idea too.
Wouldn't it be nice if the present resembles your friendship?"
Sakurai gave his advice with his usual brotherly smile.

"Yeah, you're
right," Sawamura scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I'll
ask Shuu. He might have a brilliant idea since he also received a
chocolate from Mizuki."

Kosuke leaned to the
fences of the Three Men's Hoop. Although that night the hoop was
very crowded as usual, he didn't have the desire to do any game at
the time.

"Oi, Kosuke! How
about some help here!" Megane shouted.

Kosuke ignored him and
suddenly left the place. He went downtown where Ichi-Maru-Kyuu
building stands. Walking along the pavement, Kosuke spotted pretty
girls with merry faces everywhere. From the conversation he could
hear, those girls were wondering about what kind of White Day gift
they're going to receive tomorrow. Some were worrying they might
end up empty handed.

Kosuke sighed. If the
chocolate Mizuki gave her wasn't just some friendship chocolate, he
would happily search the whole Shibuya for the perfect White Day
present.

"Oi!"

Kosuke turned around to
see who called him.

"Sawamura? What are
you doing here?"

"Nothing important.
Just doing some window shopping. So many good stuffs, so little money
we have."

"Sad but true, I'm
avoiding getting scold by a hysterical girl for not choosing the
right present," Sawamura snorted.

"Yeah, you're
right. She's been very thoughtful giving us something on
Valentine's Day. We should be thankful for her attention," Kosuke
grinned. "Moreover, sending Naruse to look for the gift is kinda
risky… He might end up picking weird stuff…"

"Speaking of the
saru…" Sawamura pointed a direction with his chin.

Naruse was standing in
front of a huge window of an accessories store. He seemed to be
confused. He murmured something while he stared at the jewelries
behind the glass.

"Can we help you,
sir?"

"Uh, no… I mean,
yes! I mean… well…"

"Snap out of it! It's
just us!" Sawamura tapped Naruse's head.

"What? What are you
guys doing here?"

"Need help?" Kosuke
asked.

"Well, I think I'm
gonna buy Mizuki that necklace with the blue pendant, but I can't
afford that. The other one is cheaper, but it's not as pretty as
the one with the blue pendant. And…"

"Okay, we'll take
that one with the blue pendant…" Sawamura pushed the entrance and
went in.

"But, Sawamura… I
don't think my money is enough…"

"Hey, it's a gift
from the three of us, right? Don't worry, we'll patch it up,"
Kosuke dragged Naruse in.

"Irasshaimase. Can I
help you?" a woman approached them.

"Yes. My friend here
would like to buy his girlfriend a present," Sawamura glanced at
Naruse. "Can we see that necklace over there?"

"Certainly!"

"Thank you."

"Remember, Naruse.
This is just pretending. You're not really Mizuki's boyfriend,"
Kosuke whispered to Naruse in threatening tone.

"I know! I know!"
Naruse frowned.

14th March.

Mizuki walked to a
McDonald's restaurant in a hurry. She went inside and looked
around. At a table, Naruse, Sawamura and Kosuke were chattering.

"Okay, what's the
occasion? I'm in a hurry," Mizuki said rather panting after she
seated herself.

"What's the rush?
Wondering if Sakurai went to the hoop looking for you? Just so you
know, he never gave any girl a White Day gift," Sawamura said
lightly.

"I said before on the
phone that I have to help at my aunt's, didn't I?" Mizuki
pouted.

"Sorry we forced you
to come here, Mizuki. But we got something for you." Naruse took
out a small wrapping from his bag. "Happy White Day, Mizuki. This
is from the three of us."

"What…?" Mizuki
stared at the small box disbelieved.

"I chose that gift,
Mizuki," Kosuke smiled pointing his chest, "Actually Naruse
already chose a model, but his choice was lame. So we decided to go
with mine."

"I wrapped the box.
See? Way way better than your work," Sawamura crossed his arms.

"I chose the card and
we worked on the words together. It's inside, you can read it
later. Well, we got the gift yesterday, but we did the wrapping
today. So, it was rather in a hurry…" Naruse grinned a bit
ashamed.

"Guys…" Mizuki
said softly. She gave the boys chocolates because they're her best
friends and she wasn't expecting anything in return. She's very
touched by the appreciation.

"The chocolate was
delicious, Mizuki," Naruse smiled sincerely, "Thank you very
much."

"Yeah. It's… the
best friendship chocolate I ever tasted," Kosuke pouted, but then
he smiled too.

"You put too much
sugar. I'm not that skinny that I need to gain some weight,"
Sawamura snorted.

"Baka!" Mizuki
stuck his tongue out. But then she smiled. "Arigatou, minna. You're
the best… Really…"

"You're the best
too, Mizuki! So, do you wanna go out with me tomorrow?" Kosuke
leaned forward to her.

"Urusai," Mizuki
chuckled. Oh! I must go now!" She looked at her wristwatch.
Actually she wished to stay longer, but she promised her aunt. "See
you tomorrow at the hoop, okay? We'll play a great game tomorrow!"
Mizuki winked and exited the restaurant after waving to the boys.

"I bet she'll love
the present." Kosuke said proudly.

"I don't really
know…" Sawamura stood up, "Well, I have to go to work now.
Later."

"What? Isn't that
the necklace we should give to Mizuki?" Kosuke stared at the
jewelry in Naruse's hand.

"Hey! What's that
doing in your pocket?" Sawamura was surprised too.

"Uh-oh… could it
be…" Naruse looked pale

"What do you mean
uh-oh?" Kosuke got impatience.

"Actually… before I
gave it to Sawamura so he could wrap the gift… I was staring at the
necklace… I was just admiring the beauty and imagining how it's
gonna look good on Mizuki…. But I'm sure I've put it back to
its box! But… how come this…"

"Baka saruu!"
Kosuke and Sawamura chased Naruse outside the restaurant and gave him
a special White Day punches and kicks.

"GOMEEEN!"

-owari-

Crusty's endnote:
I was planning this going to be some romance between Sawamura and
Mizuki but then I ended up making a friendship fic. I guess Sawamura
and Mizuki have to wait, huh? (grins)

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.